Choosing the best model for a call centre function.

Inflection Point

Our client’s in-house patient call centre was a key touchpoint. Two years earlier, call volumes were low, and easily handled by a small in-house team. However, as product sales tripled and with future growth on the horizon, the organization needed to make a significant change to meet the emerging demand. Our client faced a critical tension between the high-touch patient experience of an in-house call centre, and the scale and efficiency available through outsourcing.

How We Helped

We partnered with the organization to design a call centre future-state that would support patients and make sense for the organization. Through cross-stakeholder workshops, we built an ideal-state map of the call centre customer experience. The map included customer and internal touchpoints, technology requirements, process flows, and call data predictions.

Using this ideal-state as our benchmark, we pressure-tested the benefits of the in-house and outsourced models with cross-functional stakeholders. A human-centred design approach kept us focused on what patients valued most in their call centre interactions.

This led us to recommendations that delivered scalability and flexibility for the organization, without sacrificing the elements of experience that mattered most.

Mapping was our primary storytelling tool, aligning stakeholders to strategic choices by making complex models visible. The conversations it sparked brought hidden assumptions to the surface, and moved the work forward.

Outcomes

We guided our client to a solution that worked best for the organization and patients. What really mattered to the customer experience was the warm interaction between callers and agents. Therefore, elements like call scripts and patient forms were kept in-house.

We delivered final recommendations for the call centre and an outline of all artifacts, requirements, and capabilities. We also delivered call scripts and consent forms to bring the recommended model to life.